Sync to Dropbox doesn't seem to be working

Codebook
1

Running 3.033.0 on my Win10 PC. I added some entries and did a Sync with Dropbox.

Opened the app on on iPhone - 3.5.3 (630) and did a Sync there.

The new entries don’t show up on the phone.

Both Syncs seemed to complete successfully without errors, didn’t find any logs after a quick poke around.

I did try this from two different iPhones and neither seemed to work.

Thoughts?

2

Hi @gbbiv

Thank you for using Codebook and posting here on discuss, although I’m sorry to hear about the trouble with syncing with Dropbox not propagating.

Could you login to Dropbox through a web browser, go to the Zetetic Folder and ensure that there’s only one copy of strip.db in there. If there’s a second copy, please delete it and re-try syncing. We’ve occasionally seen a second copy of the strip.db file being created, which could potentially cause one of your devices to be syncing with this copy rather than the original.

Let me know if this is the case and if removing the extra copy allows your syncs to propagate. Thanks!

Cheers,
Micah

3

Only only copy of the strip.db on dropbox.

4

@gbbiv

Thanks for checking that. Some more questions/ideas:

  1. Could you check to ensure that you’re linked to the same Dropbox account on each device
  2. Have you ever compacted your database on Codebook for Windows?
  3. If you create a record on one iPhone, and sync to Dropbox, then sync with the other iPhone, does the record come through?
  4. After performing number 3 if you then sync Codebook for Window with Dropbox, does that record created on iPhone also come through?
  5. When creating then Entry on Codebook for Windows, are you sure you’re hitting the “Save” button prior to initiating the sync?
  6. Does your Dropbox account have adequate space left?
  7. Does this only occur with new records created, or if you modify an existing record does the change not come through as well?

Cheers,
Micah

5

Could you check to ensure that you’re linked to the same Dropbox account on each device
– Yes, same/only account we have.
Have you ever compacted your database on Codebook for Windows?
– Not sure about this one… I’m pretty good about reading prompts and saw when I went to do this is said not to unless everything was already sync’d… so if I did I would very likely have followed that prompt if it was always there, although nothing is 100% when it comes to memory at my age. :wink:
If you create a record on one iPhone, and sync to Dropbox, then sync with the other iPhone, does the record come through?
–Yes, it did go from one phone to another.
After performing number 3 if you then sync Codebook for Window with Dropbox, does that record created on iPhone also come through?
– It does not come through to Windows.
When creating then Entry on Codebook for Windows, are you sure you’re hitting the “Save” button prior to initiating the sync?
Does your Dropbox account have adequate space left?
– Yes, about the only thing I use it for is Codebook. Copied a new file successfully.
Does this only occur with new records created, or if you modify an existing record does the change not come through as well?
– Changes do not go through.

6

I just noticed something else from Windows Dropbox to Phone Dropbox that doesn’t seem to be syncing… let me figure that out before you spend more time, I’m headed out the door now.

7

Ok, still baffled. I installed the newest version of dropbox on my PC. Then realized the folder I was looking at was somehow an old Dropbox folder in a different location??? So anyway, everything looks good from the Drobox side… I can sync from the PC or the phone and I see the date on the strip.db file update when looking directly at the file from the PHone or the PC. But the changes from the PC don’t show up on the phone and the changes from the phone don’t show up on the PC.

8

Also, unlinked and re-linked with by Dropbox account from the PC. No change.

9

@gbbiv

Thanks for all those responses and the further information.

So a couple of additional suggestions:

Could you run an integrity check on each of your devices and re-try syncing if anything comes up and is fixed.

If nothing comes up, or the Integrity Check doesn’t resolve the issue. Let’s try exporting your Codebook for Windows data, moving the data out of the way and syncing with a fresh database. Here are the steps:

  1. In Codebook for Windows, go to File > Export All and choose a location to put the plain text CSV file. Take a quick look at it after exporting to verify your records are present.
  2. Quit and Close Codebook. Open File Explorer and type this location in the Address Bar: %APPDATA%\Zetetic LLC \Strip Within that location there should be an strip.db (your encrypted Codebook database) a settings.db (your encrypted Codebook settings database) and a backups folder (containing your encrypted Codebook database backups). Take all 3 of these and move them outside of that location (onto the Desktop in a folder “Old Codebook db” or something of the sort).
  3. Start Codebook, it will prompt you to setup a fresh database – set it up using the same master password as your iPhone.
  4. Attempt to sync with Dropbox (this should populate all the data from your encrypted database on Dropbox). Now attempt to make a change on an iPhone, sync it to Dropbox, then sync your Codebook for Windows Computer to Dropbox and ensure that the change propagates. Then try one in the other direction – Make a change on your Codebook for Windows Computer, sync with Dropbox, then sync your iPhone with Dropbox and ensure the change propagates.
  5. If the syncs go through in both directions in step 4, check the exported CSV from step 1 to see if there’s any records on from the previous Codebook for Windows database that weren’t synced out previously and re-add/adjust them to match the CSV, then sync it out so your other devices get those changes.

Please let me know if this allows your data to propagate between Codebook for Window and Codebook for iPhone via Dropbox sync. Thanks!

Cheers,
Micah

10

All squared away now… strange.

11

@gbbiv

Glad to hear it’s working again. Was it after re-initializing your database as per the instructions in my previous response? My suspicion is something went awry with the replication table (on Codebook for Windows) used for determining which changes to apply to the local database and which changes to send out. Re-initializing the database on Codebook for Windows will re-create this replication table.

Cheers,
Micah

12

Yes. Removing the local DB on Windows was what fixed it.